A/N: The beginning of some answers...maybe. :)

I am changing the genre to Romance/Drama, because eventually, that will happen...in some way...slowly. ;) I wasn't sure whether to originally use 'Romance' as one of the genres because it won't happen for a little while and is subtle to begin with. So don't be too disappointed if nothing juicy happens for a while.

I intend to update with a new chapter at least once a week. It might be more than that, just depends on how much time I have to post the chapters.

9: The Task Revealed

Ginny had only woken up once more that night, disturbed from another nightmare. She was angry with herself for letting it disturb her and felt bad about waking Hermione again. The older woman didn't mind, she was just concerned for her friend. So they talked again for a little while, and were able to settle back to sleep once more.

The redhead was the first to wake up in the morning, although it wasn't that light outside yet she needed to use the loo. She wanted to giggle at the way she found herself, all snuggled up to Hermione like the brunette was an additional pillow. Not wanting to wake her friend again, she carefully and slowly moved herself away from her and got out of the bed.

Hermione awoke a few minutes later and had to go through another mental recap on just where she was; she had obviously been deeply asleep and had awoken slightly confused. Then she remembered Ginny and turned her head to see the girl was gone. She was about to call out to see where she was, when she heard the loo flush.

"I didn't wake you up again, did I?" Ginny said, upon entering the bedroom and seeing her friend awake and sitting up in the bed, her hand stuck in her bag, looking for things.

"No, at least I don't think you did," Hermione smiled back.

It was around 7.30am, by the small clock that was on the dressing table, and Hermione thought she might as well get up as Dumbledore would be arriving in under two hours. She pulled out several items of clothing, and they decided on using a tergeo spell on the trousers they wore the day before, but wearing different tops. Ginny picked up Harry's blue shirt and donned that; it fitted her fairly well. She was very lucky her boyfriend hadn't been the size of Crabbe or Goyle or it might have looked like she was wearing a tent.

They took turns in using the bathroom, with Ginny using it first, both having a quick wash, brushed their teeth and made themselves look presentable. When Hermione had finished dressing and was ready for the day, she went downstairs and saw that Ginny had already got the range stove fired up and a pot of tea ready.

The two of them both opted for some toast for breakfast, which they decided to make the old way, on the end of a fork in front of the range's fire. It tasted marvellous like that, with a bit of butter spread onto the slices.

"I don't know what I'm going to say when Dumbledore arrives," Ginny said, looking worried and a little nervous now, as the time got nearer to their meeting.

"I think it's best if we let him do the talking, or let him ask the questions to begin with," Hermione said. She was feeling a bit tense herself.

Trying to keep busy, they washed up the few items of the breakfast plates, mugs and cutlery and even wiped over the kitchen table to make things look clean and neat.

Nine o'clock arrived and Hermione was wishing that Kendra had told them Dumbledore would be there on the dot of the hour, instead of the unknowable "just after".

Their fidgetting didn't have to last too long thankfully, as at two minutes after nine o'clock Albus Dumbledore had Apparated to the back garden and walked through to the kitchen where they sat waiting.

"Good morning!" he said, in the same friendly, warm way he always interacted with people, even in their own proper timeline.

Hermione and Ginny stood up as he entered, and although they could clearly see it was Dumbledore, he did look different. He was taller than they remembered, as straight-backed as his mother in her portrait. His beard and hair were greying, but not white, and both seemed very much better groomed and tidy. There were less lines on his face and he looked as though running up a mountain wouldn't be a problem for him. He had on the familiar halfmoon spectacles, but the eyes behind them were even sharper than they remembered. The older Dumbldedore they had known always had a sharpness and twinkle to his eyes, but they still had the slight watery haze that older people's eyes had. This younger Dumbledore's eyes were more blue than seemed possible and looked like he could see through walls with them, a point which neither girl would discredit as possible.

"Professor," Hermione greeted him, almost stumbling over the word. "It's so good to see you."

"Let me see," Dumbledore said, eyeing both of them. He held out a hand to Hermione. "You are Hermione Granger," he shook her hand and smiled. Then he held out a hand to Ginny, "And you must be Ginny Weasley."

Ginny was lost for words for a second or two, but to make up for her feeling of incredible awkwardness she managed to ask. "Would you like a cup of tea Professor? We have a pot on the go."

"That sounds like a very good idea, thank you. Milk and one sugar please," he said. "I think we'll go to the sitting room, much more comfortable."

Hermione and Dumbledore walked through to the sitting room, and Ginny followed a couple of minutes later with a cup of tea which she placed on a small table near to the armchair the wizard was sitting in. Ginny and Hermione sat on the sofa, side by side.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said, as he had a sip of tea. "Where to start? In this case, to start at the beginning is also to start at the end, and in fact there may not be a start or an end anyway."

Ginny looked at Hermione, and Hermione looked at Ginny, not knowing what to make of that statement, and wondering if they needed a translation book to follow what the younger Dumbledore was saying.

The wizard looked at them and chuckled. "Forgive me, it is by far more difficult for you to be here than me, yes?" The girls just sort of nodded. "All right, let's start with what I know about our first contact here. My mother said that you know nothing and there was chaos?"

"Yes, sir," Hermione answered, thinking very carefully about how to say things, without giving away things she wasn't sure Dumbledore wanted to know. "I agreed to this 'back-up plan', and was about to be told what the details were when the situation became very much worse and I agreed to let Ginny come with me, but we never got to the part of why we're here or even where we were going or the date, even. We just got sort of dumped here."

"Didn't Professor McGonagall explain anything?" he asked. Hermione raised a surprised eyebrow. Dumbledore smiled again. "Yes, I know Minerva McGonagall, you could say we are co-conspirators."

"I'm sorry, sir," Hermione said. "I just know we have to be careful with this whole 'time' thing and I don't know how to tell you things or just how much I can tell you?"

"You are wise to be cautious, Hermione, very wise indeed," he said warmly. "I hope you are also not using Riddle's later name? In case it draws attention in some way?"

"We thought of that sir, as his name was a taboo in the months leading up to the ba...to our being here, so we're keeping that same caution here," said Hermione, stumbling over whether mentioning the Battle was a wise move or not.

"Excellent," he said genuinely impressed. "Going back to what you can and can't say to me. There are some things about the time you have come from that I know already, such as the Battle you nearly mentioned," he smiled again. "We'll face each issue as it arises, I can cast a tongue-tied curse very quickly when I need to if something is close to being said that I shouldn't know," he said with another smile. "For now, let's start with Minerva not being able to tell you any details. Is she all right?"

"She was alive when we left," Ginny answered quietly. "But fighting was raging all around us, the castle was being blown apart all over the place, and just as she was about to tell us, the room got hit and then there was no time and we had to go then, or not at all."

"I see," said the wizard. "So how did you know to come here, to my house?"

Hermione went on to tell Dumbledore about how they had discovered their location and the year and how they tried to find his house and felt they were just blundering around blind, and that the key in the phoenix's mouth was pure luck and chance.

"Humphrey didn't give you too much trouble, I hope?" Dumbledore asked.

"Humphrey?" asked Ginny and Hermione together.

"My door guardian."

"He has a name?" Ginny asked in disbelief.

"Of course he does, but over the years he does have a habit or hanging on to the key, even when I've wanted to enter the front door myself."

"We...er...managed okay with...Humphrey," Hermione said, also a bit bewildered that the door knocker had a name.

"Did you find my letter?" Albus asked.

"Yes, we did," answered Hermione.

"We most definitely picked the right person," the wizard said almost to himself, beaming at Hermione. "Such initiative and courage; from you both," he said turning to Ginny as well.

"You always told us...," Hermione paused. "I mean, the other you, always told us to use our instincts, and believe in ourselves."

"The other me, ahh yes," he said amused. "Not a bad fellow, was he?"

"Was?" Ginny asked uncertain.

"Well I assume I didn't make the last Battle and what I asked Severus to do, came to pass?"

"Y...yes," Hermione answered, totally unsettled and in awe. She decided not to question the 'asking Severus' part of that sentence, as she had already wondered a while ago whether Snape was all that he seemed, and there was more to Dumbledore's death than there first appeared to be.

"I can see this disturbs you greatly, I'm sorry for that," he said seriously. "But the fact is, I came back here to talk to me, probably shortly before...my end. This plan was devised a while before that happened, when I knew I had made a mistake in how I handled that ring horcrux and sealed my fate. I knew we might need something else."

Dumbledore sipped his tea and then said. "Forgive me for asking, but I must. Is Harry Potter dead?"

Ginny had gone a little pale and nodded and Hermione said, "Yes."

"A pity, a very great pity. But that was the only stipulation for putting this plan into action, if he died, so I had to check," he said.

"I don't mean to be rude or impatient," Hermione said. "But all I've heard is the mention of this 'plan', we don't have any idea what it entails, or why we're here. Could you, or are you able to tell us something? Anything, to help us in the right direction, please sir?"

Albus Dumbledore drank the rest of his tea, and studied the two women looking at him expectantly. They were so young, and had probably seen things they shouldn't have had to see and been involved in a battle that had tested them to the limit. However, they had been brilliant and resourceful in how they had reacted to their situation and with no help whatsoever, had found his house, got past Humphrey, found his letter and were sounding ready to get on with their mission, even though they didn't know yet, what that was. His older self had been right, as had Minerva; Hermione Granger was a very talented and special young woman and Ginny Weasley appeared to have the grit and resolve her whole family and ancestors possessed. If anyone had a chance to get close to making this work, it was the two women in front of him now.

"I can't tell you every detail, because the first part of this plan...I like the word 'plan', makes me feel like a muggle bank-robber," he chuckled. "Sorry, I digress. I can't tell you everything because you will do something that hasn't been set out yet, it will be something new in the timeline." Seeing Hermione about to protest. "Do not worry, it is not changing a big event in history, only altering an almost invisible fact, which won't even be known until your own time. And then, it will only be us who know about it. We hope it won't be known by anyone else anyway, that is if you succeed."

Ginny and Hermione exchanged uncertain, slightly confused looks again. The grand wizard smiled at them, trying to convey reassurance.

"So I can tell you your objective, but you will have to undertake it and work out a plan for yourselves. I can not be too involved with that part," he studied them. "I assume you are familiar with the Deathly Hallows?"

"Yes."

"No." The 'no' had been voiced by Ginny.

"You are from a wizarding family, are you not?" Dumbledore asked Ginny, who nodded. "Then you are familiar with the Tales of Beedle the Bard?" Again she nodded. "Do you know the Tale of the Three Brothers?"

"Yes," Ginny said uncertainly, and then a thought hit her. "Are you saying, some of it is true?" She was waiting to be laughed at, but heard no laughter.

"Whether the characters themselves acted in the ways they did, is neither here nor there, however, their special artefacts are real. And those three items are the Deathly Hallows."

Ginny looked amazed and looked at Hermione to see her friend just nod at her. Here she was sitting in Dumbledore's house in Godric's Hollow in 1943 and being told the Three Brothers' items were real? Everything since she had arrived here was weird and kept on getting weirder; Maybe I should just forget to be surprised now, she thought.

"Harry always had the Invisibility Cloak," Hermione told her friend.

"His cloak is THE cloak?" Ginny exclaimed, already forgetting to forget about being surprised.

"Yes it is," Dumbledore said. "Passed from father to son for generations. But he also had a second Hallow."

"He did?" asked an even more astonished Ginny.

"Ron and I didn't believe him when he became convinced he had it," Hermione said, with almost a tone of shame. "But he did have the Resurrection Stone, of that I'm sure."

"I told myself I was hiding it in a snitch?" Dumbledore asked, then chuckled. "I mean the other me told me that was my intention."

"Yes, you left Harry a snitch," Hermione replied, ignoring for the moment that Ginny was looking more aghast with each sentence she or the wizard spoke. "I don't know if he got the Stone free from it. He knew it had something to do with opening it with his mouth somehow, because it was the first snitch he caught and he almost swallowed it!"

"It was a rather brilliant idea of mine, don't you think?" the wizard smiled. "Most people would assume a snitch is always caught by the hand. It would have been interesting to know if he had opened the snitch, but nevermind, that part doesn't need to be changed, it is almost irrelevant now."

"So, the other you came back to talk with you?" Ginny managed to ask, in a odd flat tone.

"I was going to ask about that myself," said Hermione. "I thought it was dangerous to do that kind of thing?"

"Well, I am me, as was the other me," he said, with no tone of arrogance at all but a twinkle in his blue eyes, which gave all the answers they needed to know. Other wizards or witches might go mad upon meeting with themselves in time travel, but Albus Dumbledore was a different prospect and not just any old wizard or witch.

"Right, so back to the Hallows, sir?" Hermione prodded.

"Yes, the Resurrection Stone," the wizard said, then he looked at Ginny quizzically. "Are you aware of horcuxes?"

"Hermione told me about them," the redhead answered.

"Excellent. Well, we...that is to say, me and me, believe the Stone to have been altered by its transfer in becoming a horcrux, and then altered once more when the soul particle was destroyed. Riddle himself had no idea what he actually possessed, which is all well and good for what needs to be done."

Hermione and Ginny had shifted forward slightly on the sofa, eager to hear the next part, which seemed to be getting closer to the point of them being here.

"Wait," Hermione said. "That horcrux hasn't been made yet?"

"None have yet, or so I've been told," Dumbledore replied.

"How can you not do anything, if you know what is going to happen?" asked Hermione, anxiously.

"Like you, I respect the laws of time and the events that need to happen and that can not be changed. If I save one person, or prevent one event, does that mean more people are in danger and other events that should happen never can? We have to leave the main elements alone. I know what happens this June. I will do what I apparently always did, watch Riddle carefully and follow my instincts, for beyond this year I know not much else, thankfully, until your time."

Ginny looked again at Hermione, wondering what was special about June 1943, when Hermione answered the question herself and reminded Ginny of the big events of the year again.

"A student gets killed in a bathroom," Hermione said calmly. "By the basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets."

"Sadly, yes." Albus Dumbledore said with feeling.

"That student remains as a ghost, and she does help Harry a couple of times," Hermione offered.

"There you have it," the wizard said. "If I saved her, maybe Harry would not have the particular help he needs and is in danger at the wrong time, or something else happens. I know you understand these things Hermione. It's hard, but always stick to those principles...to what I and Professor McGonagall told you when you first used a Time-Turner."

"Hermione told me about that, and we know it's the right thing to do and to work with, but...it is very hard sir," Ginny said.

"Where do we come in and what's the connection with the Hallow?" Hermione asked, ready to move onwards again.

"We...myself and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, would like to get hold of the Resurrection Stone before Riddle turns it into a horcrux. I can not tell you the exact reasons for it, not yet, but it is something we would very much like to achieve."

"What?" Hermione couldn't help the tone of disbelief, mirrored by Ginny mouthing the same word without any volume.

"As you may or may not know, he makes that Stone into a horcrux later this year, we suspect it to be after June, possibly in the summer holidays or just before then. You need to find and take possession of the Stone, if you can, well before he does."

That piece of information was greeted with disconcerted silence for several moments.

"Say, we can find it," Hermione began. "Won't that just mean Riddle will use something else as a horcux, which will then be another unknown object in our own time, which we have to find?"

"Do you remember what I said? It will hopefully not be known about." Dumbledore opened a pouch on his belt and pulled out a ring. "If you can, we want you to swap the real Resurrection Stone Ring with this." He handed it to Hermione.

For all intents and purposes the ring was identical to that of the real one which held the real Stone. It had the Deathly Hallows mark in it; the triangle cloak, the circle inside for the stone and the line through the middle for the wand.

"Sir? Won't he know that this is fake and has no power as such? I know nearly anything can be made into a horcrux, but we always thought he could feel the power of the items he chose, even their ancestry?"

"A very good question," Dumbledore said. "We thought of that too and the stone you have there is very rare type of dark sapphire found at the bottom of the Lake at Hogwarts. It has some magical properties, but it's essentially very old and mystical. It would have enough 'feeling' as it were, to be taken as a genuine article."

As Hermione looked at the Ring another question came to her about their whole appearance here.

"Professor," Hermione began. "If you handed this fake to me now and that is part of our objective then we were always meant to meet with you when we arrived then?"

"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "Of course no one knew exactly when that would be from your time, but yes we were to meet as soon as we could, for me to give you the Ring copy. Minerva was confident that you would be back at Hogwarts for the Battle, as the other me thought would happen. You were always our choice, and we were always to meet, if this plan was ever put into action."

"It's just, Mrs. Dumbledore was a bit awkward with us, almost as if we weren't supposed to contact you or only if we were bleeding and the house was falling down?"

Dumbledore gave another brilliant smile. "Mothers," he said. "Protective, fierce in their loyalty and once living as a portrait, obstinate and cantankerous from head to toe."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I don't think she liked us much."

"Don't take it personally," the wizard said, good humouredly. "However, even she would never have refused to take your message to me, she just wanted to appear that she was the one in control."

Ginny had been quiet, taking everything in, but now she spoke again. "This is all well and good," she said, sounding a little befuddled. "But going back to our task; where on earth do we look to find the real Stone. Especially if it's been made into a ring, anyone could be wearing it...even muggle royalty maybe? It might even be out of the country!"

"Hermione, did Harry tell you about everything he learned and saw when he spent time with me?" Dumbledore asked, focusing on the brunette instead.

"Yes."

"Did he mention the Gaunt family?"

Hermione nodded slowly, trying to recall everything Harry had spoken to herself and Ron about. Now, what was it about the Gaunts and a ring, or what Harry thought was the connection? He said he saw the ring flashed about, but not clearly enough to see the symbol...a coat of arms maybe...the Deathly Hallows.

"On my god!" Hermione said, with realization.

"What?" Ginny asked, once again confused.

"We have to find Riddle's Gaunt relation, specifically the one who has the Ring? Before Riddle has a chance to murder his father to turn the Ring into a horcrux?" she questioned Dumbledore.

"Essentially, yes," he said.

"But Gaunt's mad, they all were...literally. Harry told me they only spoke parseltongue, how can Ginny and I hope to swap the Ring in those circumstances? But the real question here, is why can't you do this yourself? Why couldn't Professor McGonagall do this? Why do you need us?"